My once-restrained "inner voice" is now demanding to be heard. This blog is the awareness of my eyes & heart being opened daily on this journey we call LIFE.

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Thursday, August 13, 2015

“Not
Prepared to Receive…”

I often marvel:

How people will stand in long lines to win the $100 million dollar
Power Ball Lottery. Many have won. Yet within a few years, they are broke.

Athletes “go pro” and sign multi-million dollar contracts. They
immediately go from poverty to ultra-wealthy. Many are more focused on the access
this new money provides instead of their athletic skill. Within a few years,
they find themselves released from the team and in financial trouble.

Many entertainers pray for success and fame. They get it fast and
find themselves overwhelmed. They weren’t prepared for the loss of privacy and
ridicule that came along with it. Some succumb to drugs, alcohol and bad
behavior. They end up being “one-hit wonders.”

Example:You prayed for new
furniture. God Answered. He is trying to move in the brand new American
Signature furniture you prayed for. The truck and movers are right outside your
door…but you’ve got to move out the old furniture.

In the movie Facing the Giants,
a teacher told this story to the coach:

Two men
prayed for rain for their crops. One tilled his fields, preparing to receive
it. The other did not. Whose Faith was strongest? You need to go prepare your
fields for rain.

Many of us fall guilty to this. We ask, plead and pray for
blessings we are not prepared to receive.

As with the lottery example, people are advised to have a lawyer,
financial advisor and accountant in place before coming to claim the money.
Some advise the winner to remain anonymous

Life offers opportunities somewhat like an assembly line. They will
continuously present themselves to you. It is up to us to prepare ourselves to
receive them.

The Bible discusses this in Matthew
25:1-12 (NKJV) in “The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.” It
basically highlights 10 virgins who took their lamps to meet the bridegroom.
Five took oil with them; five did not. While the bridegroom was delayed, they
all slept. At midnight, when it was announced that he was approaching, five did
not have oil to trim their lamps. Although they rushed to purchase more, they
returned to find the door to the wedding shut.

James
4:3 (NIV): When you ask, you do not
receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on
your pleasures.

“The way you can be careful of the catastrophe that success can
bring is by paying attention to something else that comes along with success -
responsibility.” - El DeBarge

“Sometimes we may ask God for success, and He gives us physical and
mental stamina. We might plead for prosperity, and we receive enlarged
perspective and increased patience, or we petition for growth and are blessed
with the gift of grace. He may bestow upon us conviction and confidence as we
strive to achieve worthy goals.” - David A. Bednar

Pay
attention. Make sure you are clear about what you ask and prepared to receive
it.